Half of what I say is meaningless…

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It seems that every few months, I become obsessed with a new band or artist that’s already famous to most humans and their household pets. Last summer, it was Elton John. February break, it was Gavin DeGraw. Spring break, it was the Red Hot Chili Peppers.

But as I’ve delved into the wonderful world of British Invasion-era bands, I’ve recently fallen deeply in love with the Kinks. I’ve enjoyed their music for a long time, but since I heard a couple of their songs on the radio last week, I’ve listened to them more than ever before. They are not completely unlike the Beatles, but they definitely have their own, distinctly British sound. There are so many things about them that I love, so I’ll list a few of them here.

1. They are (in my opinion) extremely underrated.
Sure, I like bands like Led Zeppelin and Queen a lot. They’re great. But I honestly feel that their overall musical output is just a tad over-celebrated. However, the Kinks, for some reason, are not on as much of a lauded pedestal as many other bands (yes, the Beatles are very lauded and celebrated, though deservedly so). I don’t know why this appeals to me, I guess I just like the idea that they are not as “mainstream” popular. And I always root for the “underdogs” of rock who never seem to get the accolades they deserve. Like George Harrison!

2. Ray Davies. Need I say more?
I’ve basically been listening to the Kinks nonstop for about three days, and I can safely say that I haven’t discovered a Kinks song I don’t like. I finally understand why Ray Davies is considered, as my dad has been telling me for years, a musical genius on par with the Beatles. His lyrical style is honest and accessible, but also clever, witty, and often amusing. I also love his voice, because it’s very different from any of my other favorite singers. Variety is, after all, the spice of life!
His songs are very melodic and easy on the ears, but they also make me stop and think about life. And his utter British-ness is, to me, very appealing. Just watch this video and you’ll see what I mean.

Yes, uninformed interviewers from the 60s and 70s always make me cringe (did this guy really think that people at a Kinks concert in 1977 would be screaming the whole time?), but Ray is so quietly charming and witty that I don’t even mind. He has fantastic hair, which always helps. He also says here that he isn’t as good looking as Mick Jagger, but I respectfully disagree. 🙂
Hmm, soft-spoken, underrated musical geniuses from the sixties with fantastic hair. Have we, at Beatle Me Do, seen this before…? 🙂

3. The Kinks invented a whole lot of things.
I did not know this, but apparently the 1965 Kinks song “See My Friends” is the actual first pop song credited with Indian influence, BEFORE the later, sitar-flavored “Norwegian Wood (This Bird Has Flown)” on the Beatles’ Rubber Soul. Now that I listen to it, I definitely hear it. Take a listen for yourself!

Also, their first big hit, “You Really Got Me,” is commonly recognized as one of the first proto-metal and punk songs because of its power chord structure and overall rawness. I’m not really into metal as a genre, but this is definitely one of the best harder rock songs of the early sixties.

4. They wrote my favorite rock Christmas song.

I listen to this year-round, with no shame whatsoever. It’s a really great song!

Now that I’ve introduced the Kinks on this Beatle blog, I will at some point in the future describe my favorite songs by them. In the meantime, I need to actually go through their discography in detail beyond their greatest hits compilations. I refuse to be an uneducated fan for long!
I’m also praying that the supposedly confirmed reunion album and tour between Ray and Dave will actually happen. How awesome to see these legends together in concert! One can only hope they will put aside their differences long enough to make their fans happy.
In the meantime, have a fantastic week! 🙂

It’s that time of year again where Beatle fans everywhere gather and celebrate Paul’s birthday!!! I’ll try not to make this a repeat of last year’s birthday post, but I will say that in light of Paul’s recent health scare, I’m glad he seems to be doing better. He’s one of those people that has an aura. I experienced that first hand last year when I saw him at the Barclays Center; as soon as he came onstage, the entire atmosphere of the place changed from extreme excitement to a giant outpouring of joy and affection and tears unlike anything I’ve ever seen. As I’ve said before, it was magical, and I hope that everyone is fortunate enough to experience his brilliance in person at least once.

Paul is 72 now, but he doesn’t appear to be slowing down anytime soon. I admire his energy and passion for what he does, and I can only hope that I am the same way in my adult years.

Obviously I love Paul a lot. Here are a couple of videos that explain why if I haven’t done a thorough enough job.

Wow, what a voice he still has! I’m so glad he did this!

This, folks, is the best Paul McCartney tribute video on Youtube. It captures his youthful exuberance perfectly.

I love how Paul can still relate to the youth of today. Also, as I’ve said before, he and Jimmy are great together.

Well, I hope Paul has an absolutely fab day!!! And I hope you do too! Listen to his music, watch some videos of Paul, or just think about why he’s the best. Satisfaction guaranteed. 🙂

Hello again! Wow, I feel like I’ve been away from blogging forever. I sincerely apologize for that, all 30 people who check this regularly. I don’t really have a specific Beatley plan for this post. I think I’ll just talk about some random stuff for a while and post some cute Beatle pics at the end, okay? Okay. (sorry, I’m still in The Fault In Our Stars mode from last week…)

Monty Python is reuniting for a show in London on July 20th, which will be simulcast in theaters around the country INCLUDING one near me!!! I really hope I can go see it. Please forgive me; I watched a few episodes of Python earlier today and I’m in a very silly mood at the moment.

You know what makes me sad? Ringo is performing in my area twice in the same month, once yesterday and again next week, and I have tickets to neither concert. I don’t really know how those slipped away, and I as a Beatlemaniac am sincerely sorry for not trying harder to get tickets. 😦

A couple of days ago marked the 1 year anniversary since I saw Paul McCartney in concert and he told me he loved me. Let’s relive that glorious moment one more time, shall we?

Wow, it really does not seem like an entire year since I saw Paul in concert. The time has absolutely flown by! I could have sworn that it was just yesterday that I was at the Barclays Center, hearing Paul serenade 16,000 of his closest friends. Good times… Hopefully I will see him again one day.

I also cannot come to terms with the fact that I will be a senior in high school next year. When I started this blog, I was a mere sophomore, an amateur in the world of college and SATs compared to now. It’s going to get crazy, but I promise to keep blogging!

All righty, I think it’s time for those Beatle pictures I promised earlier. Enjoy!

George, looking fab with sunglasses and his son Dhani

The lads gathered around a piano

This is just adorable Paul at his best

One of the best pictures of Lennon/McCartney I have ever seen

That’s all for now. I swear that it will NOT be a month until I blog again! 🙂
In the meantime, have a lovely weekend and enjoy the start of summer!

So I’ve been kind of obsessed with Jimmy Fallon recently since he made his debut on The Tonight Show a few weeks ago. I think he’s hilarious and one of the most creative and entertaining comedians out there today. One thing, among many, that I love about him, is that he is known for his spot-on musical impersonations of people like Neil Young, Jim Morrison, Bob Dylan, David Bowie, and others. He is also a huge fan of the Beatles and Paul McCartney! In fact, my mom actually spotted him at the Paul McCartney concert last June, and I think he appeared on the screen next to the stage once or twice. Whenever he interviews Paul on his show, he gets really excited and giggly, which I think is both adorable and the mark of a true super fan. Anyway, today I’ve decided to post a few videos of Jimmy and Paul, because they’re two wonderful people who are just hysterical together!

This video is priceless for so many reasons! Paul head-butting Jimmy, Paul attempting an American accent and sounding more like a British tourist with an acquired Texan accent, Paul saying “Honey Boo Boo” over and over again… I’m so thankful this exists.

A classic moment on Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. This version of Yesterday might be my favorite. 🙂
Also, I love when Jimmy harmonizes on the last part of the song. He actually has quite a nice voice.

This might be the most heartfelt version of Here Today I’ve come across. It brings tears to my eyes whenever I watch it because it’s so powerful and bare. Also, when Jimmy tells Paul, “I love you,” at 3:30 in the video, I think I laughed and cried at the same time. If I was hosting a talk show and Paul was a guest, I would also profess my love for him on the air.

Hearing Paul using words like “selfie” and “photobomb” that mostly people under 20 say just makes my day. He truly is the coolest person in the world. And the picture they show at 0:35 is one of my absolute favorite Beatle pictures!

All right, I think that’s all for now. I will try to do a post tomorrow about my favorite covers of Beatles songs, so be on the lookout!

So it’s snowing here in NY! School was dismissed early today (hooray!) and I had a few extra hours on my hands, and what do you suppose I decided to do??? Well, after doing some homework, I decided to sit down and watch Rockshow, the 3 hour concert documentary made of Paul McCartney and Wings’ 1976 tour of North America. I honestly can’t imagine a better way to spend a snowy afternoon than sitting in my basement for hours on end watching Paul sing to me via the television, albeit in a movie from 35 years ago.

This was a movie that as a major Beatles and Paul fan, I’d been wanting to watch for a long time, and I was certainly not disappointed! For those expecting a movie with lots of behind-the-scenes footage of the band, this has none of that. It’s just the concert, from beginning to end, but really, shouldn’t that be enough? It’s Paul, for crying out loud. He’s (arguably) the single most entertaining person who has ever lived!

Watching this reminded me of the absolute joy I felt watching Paul onstage live last June, and I loved watching him perform many of the same songs in this movie, like “Lady Madonna” and “Blackbird”, as well as a bunch of Wings songs, that he did when I saw him. It’s definitely not hard to believe it’s the same person; he does the same little Paul things now, like making what I call his “bass-face”, that he did 40 years ago. Paul truly is a natural showman, definitely the best out of the four Beatles, and his love for music shines through in his performing.

I’d also like to add that Paul just looks amazing in this movie. From the mullet which only he can pull off, to the sparkly jacket and pink tie, to the odd but charming shiny pants, to his amazingly perfect, angelic, sexy, raspy voice, he is a bonafide rock star in every sense of the word. Paul is just so perfect at music and life. I felt the need to clap after every song while watching this movie, even though he obviously can’t hear me. I seriously need to meet this man, give him a big hug, and tell him just how much I love him.

So, if you’re wondering what all of this fuss is about, here are a couple of awesome clips from the movie! The first one is of a song not actually written by Paul, but by other Wings member Denny Laine! What I did not realize before watching this movie is that Denny actually has a great voice, though he is a little kooky. And I am obsessed with this version of the song. It’s by far the best version I’ve heard.

This song, “Bluebird,” is I think one of Paul’s most underrated solo songs. It’s really quite lovely, and this version is wonderful. Even after all of the screaming and high-octane rock numbers, Paul always knows how to scale it back vocally for a song like this. That’s why he’s so great!

The reason that I’m including this next song, “Let ‘Em In,” is purely because at 1:03 in the video, Paul clearly says, “Do me a FLAVOR” instead of the actual lyric, “Do me a FAVOR”! I laughed when I heard that. Silly Paulie. 🙂
This song seems pretty easy to learn on the piano, so I may attempt it in the future. I’ll let you all know how that turns out…

Okay, one more video. This one is of “Jet,” one of my absolute favorite Paul songs, and this is what I mean when I’m describing his voice during this concert. Especially during this song, he just sounds so irresistibly sexy! I was practically drooling while watching this at home. And when he does the little “Ooh, she said!” hand gestures… I lost it. Maybe it’s a good thing I didn’t grow up in the 70s, for everyone else’s sake…

That’s all for now! I do have an idea for another post, but that may have to wait until tomorrow. Stay fab everyone!

So I’m going to try this little segment called “Beatles Song of the Week” when I honestly don’t know what to post, like today. But I also really like this song, and I wanted to share it with all of you!

Paul supposedly wrote this song about his sheepdog Martha, which is one of the cutest things I’ve ever heard. 🙂
If I decide to do another “Top 10 Underrated Beatles Songs” list, which I might do because there are so many, this song will definitely make the list. Amidst all of the fantastic songs on the White Album like “Blackbird” and “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” this little ditty by Paul tends to get overlooked, which is a shame because it’s really a fantastic song. Like many of Paul’s best songs, it has a jaunty piano part that I’m sure is harder to play than it sounds, and I also like that it combines a lot of different moods and sounds into one short 2:30 minute song. I can definitely hear Paul’s childhood music hall influences come out in this song, as well as in others like “Honey Pie” and “Lady Madonna,” both of which have upbeat, lively piano parts like this one.

This song is extremely catchy and is likely to get stuck in your head for days once you hear it. It’s definitely a hidden gem in the Beatles’ massive catalog, but it deserves its fair share of attention because it’s such a good song! Enjoy!